A United Cause: strategic partnership between BioNTech and the Government of the UK announced

A multi-year collaboration between BioNTech and the Government of the United Kingdom will see the expansion of the company’s presence in the UK, focusing on areas like cancer immunotherapies and infectious disease vaccines.

The MoU will be based around three core pillars – mRNA-based cancer immunotherapies, infectious disease vaccines, and investments in expanding the BioNTech’s presence in the UK. Trial site and patient recruitment for clinical candidates will be accelerated under the agreement, utilising the UK’s clinical trial network, genomics, and health data services and assets. By the end of 2023, candidates will be selected, and trial sites and a development plan will be set-up in order to enrol the first cancer patient. Randomised trials are also expected to be designed in satellite settings, with potential to register for BioNTech’s personalised mRNA cancer immunotherapies within the UK.  

CEO and Co-Founder of BioNTech Ugur Sahin commented: “The UK successfully delivered COVID-19 vaccines so quickly because the National Health Service, academia, the regulator, and the private sector worked together in an exemplary way. This agreement is a result of the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic as we all experience that drug development can be accelerated without cutting corners if everyone works seamlessly together towards the same goal.” 

The agreement will also see BioNTech invest in a UK-based research and development hub in Cambridge, including a capacity of over 70 skilled workers by the end of March 2023. A regional headquarters will also be established in London for employees in Regulatory, Medical, Intellectual Property, and Legal roles. BioNTech will remain a local sponsor of current and future clinical trials in the UK as part of the MoU.  

Trials for BioNTech products such as FixVac, a melanoma immunotherapy that uses mRNA-encoded, tumour-associated antigens, and iNeST, an individualised and tailored immunotherapy for cancer using neoantigens, have already seen several hundred patients. Other mRNA therapeutic technologies developed by BioNTech include the first COVID-19 vaccine approved for use in the UK, EU, and USA, in collaboration with Pfizer. Additionally, BioNTech have several infectious disease vaccines in development for diseases such as influenza, shingles, and malaria.  

Sahin further stated that “Our goal is to accelerate the development of immunotherapies and vaccines using technologies we have been researching for over 20 years. The collaboration will cover various cancer types and infectious diseases affecting collectively hundreds of millions of people worldwide. If successful, this collaboration has the potential to improve outcomes for patients and provide early access to our suite of cancer immunotherapies as well as to innovative vaccines against infectious diseases – in the UK and worldwide.” 

Source: BioNTech Announces Strategic Partnership with UK Government to Provide up to 10,000 Patients with Personalized mRNA Cancer Immunotherapies by 2030 | BioNTech